Community News

OCSD arrests fraud suspect, seeks additional victims

by: Carrie Braun
Posted: February 19, 2018

HUNTINGTON BEACH...Investigators from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Economic Crimes Unit, in conjunction with the United States Secret Service, have arrested Daniel Lee Case on suspicion of running a forced sale fraud scheme at multiple business resulting in an estimated multi-million dollar loss.

Daniel Lee Case

Case is accused of going into several local businesses in Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties and convincing the merchants to use a forced sale method on their Point of Sale (POS) terminal to complete the sale transactions. Forced sale fraud refers to a scam in which the suspect uses a counterfeit/invalid/dormant credit card and bypasses typical authorizations by having the merchants “force” the transactions through their POS terminals. Days, sometimes even weeks later, the merchant will receive a “chargeback” from their merchant processor advising them that the transaction was fraudulent or was not authorized, and the money will be withdrawn from their bank account.

The current reported overall loss is approximately $1 million. These losses occurred over a period of nine months, and it is believed the actual amount of fraudulent transactions may be in excess of $3 million.

Case, 49, of Dana Point, was arrested at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, in Dana Point at storage facility in Dana Point. He subsequently was booked into Orange County jail.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has filed a complaint against Case alleging the following charges:

Anyone who has been a victim of Daniel Case or knows the whereabouts of the stolen merchandise is encouraged to contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at 714-647-7486. Anonymous tips may also be submitted to Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS.

Additionally, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department wants the local business owners and merchants to be cautious when using the forced sale capabilities on their POS terminals. POS devices have supported the forced sale function for decades, however the need for this function has diminished over time as processing systems have evolved. Most transactions require proper issuer authorization through the merchant processing network.